Upgrading from MBP 13" mid-2010 model

Reason for upgrading is that my current MBP is just too slow. Also, my old one is having some issues with battery life, freezing, etc. though admittedly I haven't treated it too well. I'm a college student (engineering and computation math major) and often have a lot of software running at once. I also have virutalbox with Ubuntu running in the background quite often, for better or for worse

I'm also pretty passionate about photography and use CS5 and LightRoom pretty frequently.

Previous model I had 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3.

I'm still looking at the 13" model since I think it's the perfect size, especially since I'm lugging it everywhere. I've played with a friend's 15" before and carried it around for a day and it was surprisingly heavy. Anyway:
-2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7
-8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
-1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400

I'm not too savvy with computer hardware, so does this seem like it'll suit my needs?

Reason for upgrading is that my current MBP is just too slow. Also, my old one is having some issues with battery life, freezing, etc. though admittedly I haven't treated it too well. I'm a college student (engineering and computation math major) and often have a lot of software running at once. I also have virutalbox with Ubuntu running in the background quite often, for better or for worse

I'm also pretty passionate about photography and use CS5 and LightRoom pretty frequently.

Previous model I had 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3.

I'm still looking at the 13" model since I think it's the perfect size, especially since I'm lugging it everywhere. I've played with a friend's 15" before and carried it around for a day and it was surprisingly heavy. Anyway:
-2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7
-8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
-1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400

I'm not too savvy with computer hardware, so does this seem like it'll suit my needs?

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yes it will. I highly recommend avoiding getting RAM and HDD upgrades from Apple as they are overpriced.

I highly recommend getting 16GB 1600MHz Ram ($99ish) and an SSD (240-256GB $180-200ish) and installing them yourself. You could throw the stock HDD in the Optibay and this would be a screaming 13".

Previous post is correct. But also I suggest you give a try to the Retina Macbook Pro. It should be stunning for photo editing and weight is less than normal 15" MBP. The only drawback is the price. But you won't loose anything by trying it on any Apple Store.

I dont think now is a good buy with rumors of a retina macbook pro in octoberish. he would buy it then be outdated 2 months later. plus if hes passionate about photography the updated screen is worth waiting for

Previous post is correct. But also I suggest you give a try to the Retina Macbook Pro. It should be stunning for photo editing and weight is less than normal 15" MBP. The only drawback is the price. But you won't loose anything by trying it on any Apple Store.

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I have the Retina MBP and its absolutely amazing. I previously had a 27" 2011 iMac and 2011 15" MBP and neither compare, the screen is gorgeous, especially for photo work, given Adobe CS6 isnt optimized yet, its still an amazing laptop.

I'm not too savvy with computer hardware, so does this seem like it'll suit my needs?

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I have the same mid-2010 MBP 13", I also found it very slow overtime but after a SSD upgrade, it feels like a brand new computer, I do run a few photo post processing programs on it and it work well.

There is nothing wrong with getting a later machine, however I found the SSD option do give an older machine a fairly big performance upgrade. Just a suggestion, I'm not sure about bad battery life though.

I would LOVE the Retina Display 15" but the price is just outrageous. I don't doubt that it's amazing but I'd need more than the base model and just a quick look says that would be ~$3700+.

I'd wait for a 13" retina but the need to upgrade is pretty urgent. I definitely can't wait for 1+ months :/

Anyway, I'm definitely interested in getting my own SSD - probably 512 GB though since I know 256 is too little from experience. Not sure what brands are good but a quick google search turned up this one, which seems to have good reviews

I would LOVE the Retina Display 15" but the price is just outrageous. I don't doubt that it's amazing but I'd need more than the base model and just a quick look says that would be ~$3700+.

I'd wait for a 13" retina but the need to upgrade is pretty urgent. I definitely can't wait for 1+ months :/

Anyway, I'm definitely interested in getting my own SSD - probably 512 GB though since I know 256 is too little from experience. Not sure what brands are good but a quick google search turned up this one, which seems to have good reviews

Crucial M4 is a great SSD. I also recommend Samsung 830, OCZ Vertex 4, and Corsair Force GT/GS Series if you decide against the Crucial M4. But the M4 is the lowest price for 512GB.

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Thanks. It doesn't seem to be too hard to install by myself just judging by a quick google search.

I've already ordered the new MBP with 1 TB storage, 2.9 GHz dual-core, and 8 GB RAM so I think I'm going to see how it goes first before pulling the trigger on a SSD. This in itself should be noticeably faster than my current model though, no?

Thanks. It doesn't seem to be too hard to install by myself just judging by a quick google search.

I've already ordered the new MBP with 1 TB storage, 2.9 GHz dual-core, and 8 GB RAM so I think I'm going to see how it goes first before pulling the trigger on a SSD. This in itself should be noticeably faster than my current model though, no?

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That will be a wonderful machine. I am sure you will be very happy with the performance straight out of the box.

Thanks. It doesn't seem to be too hard to install by myself just judging by a quick google search.

I've already ordered the new MBP with 1 TB storage, 2.9 GHz dual-core, and 8 GB RAM so I think I'm going to see how it goes first before pulling the trigger on a SSD. This in itself should be noticeably faster than my current model though, no?

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Yes, but its bottleneck is the 5400RPM HDD, its extremely slow in regards to latency, read and write speeds, thus why everyone suggests SSDs, its seriously a night and day difference.

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